FW: <OT> Ubuntu to all

[Dirk Moolman]

[Matthew]

Hey all,

My wife and I recently housed a refugee family for a week before they
moved 
into their new home.  My church sponsored the family to come over from
Rwanda 
where they've been living in less than ideal circumstances (refugee
camp) for 
10-15 years.  The father speaks French and his native tribal tongue, his
wife 
only speaks the tribal dialect and his five children have a smattering
of 
both.  

While my French took a soaring leap during that week, it had no where
else to 
go but up, and I found it easier to communicate when some other refugee
folks 
came over to visit.  Turns out they had been in the same camp, and the
father 
of the new family had taught them French in the refugee camp.  

So while the refugee friend, Dale, was over I asked if he had ever heard
of 
the term UBUNTU.  He immediately showed a sign of recognition, and we
chatted 
a bit about what it means.  It turns out, almost all tribal languages in

Africa share a lot of the same words.  Their use and pronunciation
varies a 
bit between dialects, but UBUNTU means basically the same thing
throughout 
the whole continent.  Everybody in our refugee family had two names...
one 
was French-derived, and the other was their African name and means
something.  
Oddly enough, one of their names had "ubunto" on the end, and it is
based on 
the word Ubuntu.  Very cool.

Anyway, happy trivia, guys :)



[Dirk]

Ubuntu:  "I am human, because you are human", 

A figure of speech that describes the importance of group solidarity on
issues that were pivotal to the survival of the African communities, who
as a consequence of poverty and deprivation have to survive through
group care and not only individual reliance.


Dirk


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